How I Monetized a Free Mobile App
How mobile is everyone here?
A couple of years ago I was really burdened that I was falling behind in the mobile space. One of my websites, an entertainment/news/gossip publication, was receiving more and more mobile traffic but we didn't have an App. With the continued evolution towards Apps, I knew if I didn't get one soon that my competitors would begin passing me by. So one day a couple years ago I decided it was time.
I set aside some money and hired a developer. I explained my vision and we worked on it for a few weeks only for Apple to reject it. I burned $1000 with nothing to show for it. They didn't like my App structure because it directed people to the mobile web instead of loading native feeds within the App. To make a long story short, I was screwed. I still didn't have a solution and now I'd sunk some of the money I had set aside to start the project.
So I began looking for ways to develop an App on my own. Full disclosure, I'm not an App developer. It's just something I haven't studied and I'm sure, if given the time, I could figure it out. But this wasn't a situation where I wanted to learn on the job only for Apple to reject me.
That's when I found Como (formerly known as Conduit Mobile). What they do, is provide a drag and drop solution where you can develop your App straight from your Web browser and they'll handle submission and everything else. You have to pay the yearly App developer fee from Apple ($99) and one time Google Play fee of $25 in addition to a monthly fee but it's still cheaper than hiring a freelancer.
What I then did was created an App based around my entertainment/news/gossip publication using RSS feeds. I burned the Wordpress feeds in Feedburner and inserted them as native RSS feeds within the App. I also made the actual website -- that had a responsive design -- available inside the App.
For two years, I marketed the App -- which was free of charge -- and acquired tens of thousands of installs in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Side note, Como allows for you to monetize your App by enabling their ads but the rate is so low I decided to use to App solely as a way to generate hype and traffic for my website.
While my App got more and more popular, I got hyper focused on "mobilizing" this particular property. What started as a responsive design turned into a mobile/tablet site created through a javascript and completely monetized with mobile ads with 100% fill rate.
People were flocking to the free App and I was busy behind the scenes monetizing the mobile audience. After two years, I pulled the native RSS feeds and started linking directly to sections of my entertainment/news/gossip publication within the App. To still comply with Apple standards, I left a comprehensive native RSS feed but hid it at the bottom in addition to some other native features available through the platform.
In 2015, I use the App's "Push Notifications" to direct tens of thousands of visitors to various sections on the App. The sections are monetized with my own mobile friendly advertisements so I've seen a large influx of traffic on this particular property.
I still do not have native App ads -- that would only deter people -- and am quite pleased with the results.
So why am I sharing this story? I don't know. I just spent some time here yesterday seeing people looking for legitimate ways to make money online and thought I'd share a mobile success story.
Anyone else have a story about how they monetized their mobile platform? Have a question?
I'd love to talk about it more!
Have a great day Warriors!
A couple of years ago I was really burdened that I was falling behind in the mobile space. One of my websites, an entertainment/news/gossip publication, was receiving more and more mobile traffic but we didn't have an App. With the continued evolution towards Apps, I knew if I didn't get one soon that my competitors would begin passing me by. So one day a couple years ago I decided it was time.
I set aside some money and hired a developer. I explained my vision and we worked on it for a few weeks only for Apple to reject it. I burned $1000 with nothing to show for it. They didn't like my App structure because it directed people to the mobile web instead of loading native feeds within the App. To make a long story short, I was screwed. I still didn't have a solution and now I'd sunk some of the money I had set aside to start the project.
So I began looking for ways to develop an App on my own. Full disclosure, I'm not an App developer. It's just something I haven't studied and I'm sure, if given the time, I could figure it out. But this wasn't a situation where I wanted to learn on the job only for Apple to reject me.
That's when I found Como (formerly known as Conduit Mobile). What they do, is provide a drag and drop solution where you can develop your App straight from your Web browser and they'll handle submission and everything else. You have to pay the yearly App developer fee from Apple ($99) and one time Google Play fee of $25 in addition to a monthly fee but it's still cheaper than hiring a freelancer.
What I then did was created an App based around my entertainment/news/gossip publication using RSS feeds. I burned the Wordpress feeds in Feedburner and inserted them as native RSS feeds within the App. I also made the actual website -- that had a responsive design -- available inside the App.
For two years, I marketed the App -- which was free of charge -- and acquired tens of thousands of installs in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Side note, Como allows for you to monetize your App by enabling their ads but the rate is so low I decided to use to App solely as a way to generate hype and traffic for my website.
While my App got more and more popular, I got hyper focused on "mobilizing" this particular property. What started as a responsive design turned into a mobile/tablet site created through a javascript and completely monetized with mobile ads with 100% fill rate.
People were flocking to the free App and I was busy behind the scenes monetizing the mobile audience. After two years, I pulled the native RSS feeds and started linking directly to sections of my entertainment/news/gossip publication within the App. To still comply with Apple standards, I left a comprehensive native RSS feed but hid it at the bottom in addition to some other native features available through the platform.
In 2015, I use the App's "Push Notifications" to direct tens of thousands of visitors to various sections on the App. The sections are monetized with my own mobile friendly advertisements so I've seen a large influx of traffic on this particular property.
I still do not have native App ads -- that would only deter people -- and am quite pleased with the results.
So why am I sharing this story? I don't know. I just spent some time here yesterday seeing people looking for legitimate ways to make money online and thought I'd share a mobile success story.
Anyone else have a story about how they monetized their mobile platform? Have a question?
I'd love to talk about it more!
Have a great day Warriors!
